Fistful of Boomstick
by brokenwriting
Summary: When Ash finds you cowering in the back of the Dearborn T.V. station, you find yourself oddly attached to him. (Based on the game 'Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick' for PS2. Reader does not have a specified gender.
1. Chapter 1

This fic is sort of a response to this one, by jolie-in-the-underground on Tumblr: s/12596292/1/

The prompt: " What if soulmates were a thing, like monsters knew who their soul mate was if they met them. Their current S/O finds out about soulmates and either wasn't told they were the soulmate or they aren't the soulmate and start to panic because what will happen if their monster leaves them."

In the fanfic, the reader gets abandoned by Underfell Sans after he cheats on them with his 'soulmate'. This is my response, along with some other pent-up anger.

This is kind of a reader-insert, but it's more like an angry self-insert. Pronouns and names aren't used much, if not at all.

The prompt/main idea for this fanfiction: "After Sans left you for that whore, you couldn't contain your anger. You somehow forced a RESET, and have dedicated yourself to destroying everything Sans loves- dragging his 'soulmate' along for the ride.

 **TRIGGER WARNING: This is based off of Undertale's "No-Mercy" route. It contains torture, murder, fighting, cursing, degrading content, and major character death. Do not proceed if you are triggered by such content.** **Also: if you refer to the No-Mercy run as gen/o/ci/de, please leave. I'd prefer if you were 16+ while reading this.**

This fic is rated M for a reason!


	2. Chapter 2

p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You followed Ash to the church. Right outside of it was a giant turquoise tornado. At least, it looked like it, but it stayed in place. Once in a while, it would flash white, and one of the demons would spawn./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Before you got to the church, you got to have a proper look at Ash. He has many scars on his tan face, with black curly hair coming down. He wore a light blue button-up shirt that was partially ripped. The right sleeve was gone completely. Where his right hand should be was a red chainsaw. On his back was a holster for his shotgun. His jeans were brown, and covered in blood./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""So… what happened at the cabin?" you has asked./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Ash snorted. "Why do you wanna know?"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Well, you obviously have experience with these things, so I figured it would help to understand how to defeat them." you said./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""It's easy to defeat 'em. A nice blast with the boomstick usually gets them." he responded./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Well, what exactly happened with your hand?" you said./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""The deadites possessed my hand, so I cut it off and replaced it with this." He held up the chainsaw./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""How did they spawn?"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Knowby's tapes. But obviously, no one believed me, so here we are." Ash said. His tone clearly told you to back off./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"At the church, the tornado rumbled viciously. You walked inside the church, casting a weary glance at the tornado. Trisha and Eldridge were right next to the pastor./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""There you are!" Trisha shouted, running up to you. "I thought you were following us!"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""I was, but I-" Trisha cut you off by hugging you. You noticed that her orange shirt was a bit damp. And itchy, like usual./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"While Ash caught up, you got a look at Eldridge. He had a monocle on his right eye, which both were small and beady. His gray hair was slicked to the side. He wore a black suit, with a rose protruding from one pocket./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Pardon my French, Padre, but what the hell is that out there?" Ash asked the pastor, coming up behind you./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Well, I think it's a vortex. One that allows the demons to come to our world." the pastor responded. "Throwing in an item of pure silver should close it. I think that-" He was cut off by a shotgun blast. You looked over at the source, and saw Ash with the shotgun over his shoulder. Behind him was the corpse of a deadite falling down./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Continue." Ash said./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""I think that a gang of bikers robbed a jewelry store last night. If you can find them, you can probably persuade them to give any silver items up." The pastor said, eyeing Ash with distain./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Trust me, living or dead, I can be real persuasive." Ash said, turning around. You followed him back outside, Trisha shouting at you to be careful./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You followed him back to the T.V. station, watching him shoot down a few deadites on the way. In the parking lot was a biker flashing a knife at the creatures. Ash quickly took them down, then started talking to the biker. While he was busy, you did some snooping around the parking lot. You found a silver pendant with some weird markings on it./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Hey, Ash!" you called. "I found some silver!"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You walked over and gave it to him. The biker thanked you both for your help, and then took off. About twenty feet away, he was immediately taken down by one of the deadites. Well then./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"While the biker was being fed on, you turned to Ash./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Why are you helping us?" you blurted. "I mean, if everyone keeps doubting your story, why?"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"He looks at you weirdly, like you just asked him to start doing ballet./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Cause." He said before delivering a blow with his chainsaw to the newly-made deadite biker. "I hate these things. Even if I hate people, I hate demonic zombies even more." He fires another round. "Why are you still following me?"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You stop and think. "I don't know." you admit./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"After taking care of the deadites in the area, Ash led you to the portal. He tossed in the pendant, and the portal shot back into the sky, disappearing. Unfortunately, looking over the buildings, more vortexes were spawning. You mentally groaned./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"After wandering around, collecting silver items from various bikers, and watching Ash kill deadites, you finally closed all the portals, save one. It was in front of the city's university. It was surrounded by police officers. Ash pushed one of the cops out of the way and approached the vortex./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"The cops wouldn't let you pass, however. Instead, you stood on the street corner, watching the streets for deadites. While you had been exploring, Ash had killed every one before they got too close. He hadn't allowed you to have any sort of action. Not that you would be able to help. A Swiss army knife wouldn't do much against a force of hell./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You were jolted out of your thoughts when something grabbed your shoulder and bit down. You screamed, turning around and waving your knife. One of the possessed had grabbed you. You slashed, but it didn't do anything. You backed away quickly, but you backed into another one of the creatures. They were surrounding you. Oh God, you didn't want to die! You still had to-/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Again, you were dragged out of your thoughts. A gun fired, and the demons dropped, one by one. Ash appeared, grabbing your shoulder and shaking you./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""(Y/N)! Are you okay?! Get up!" he shouted./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You shivered, not realizing how cold you were. Your flesh seemed to be crawling. Sweat poured down your face. You let out a groan, pushing Ash's hand away. You stood up, swaying on your feet./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"A surge of power raced through your veins. You reached forward and ripped the gun out of Ash's hands, then kicked him in the crotch. You grabbed and pulled off the chainsaw with supernatural strength, holding it above Ash. You pulled the wire, revving it./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 1px; color: #444444;"You didn't realize you were grinning until Ash's blood splattered your face./p 


	3. Chapter 3

p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You woke up with a start./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Light poured through the glass dome in the ceiling. A dinosaur's skeleton was on a pedestal in the middle of the room; its tail was directly above you. You were lying down on the floor, propped up by what felt like a jacket./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You slowly sat up, and people were immediately all over you./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Oh my God, you're awake!" squealed Trisha's voice. "I thought we lost you!"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You groaned. "What happened?"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Ash said you were waiting on the street corner, when a deadite attacked you! Ash killed it before it did anything, but you passed out." Trisha said./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""So… I didn't hurt him?" you asked./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""What?" Trisha said, confused./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""(Y/N/)!" a voice yells. You look over and see Ash running towards you. "Oh God, you're okay!"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Oh thank God, you're alive!" you gasped, remembering your nightmare. You pushed yourself up, Trisha helping. "I had this awful dream where I- where you…" You tried not to fall over or cry. You had only known him for a couple hours, but you couldn't stand the thought of him dying./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Trisha steadied you. Ash held out something wrapped in tin foil./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""You've been out for a couple hours. Eat this, it'll help." he said, passing it to you. You opened the foil, and discovered (choice of sandwich)./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""So, what's the plan?" you asked./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""I have to go find Eldridge. He said that there's a 'summoning stone' hidden here, the museum. He's over by the Civil War exhibits. Ash will find survivors and get whatever help he can. And you're coming with me." Trisha said./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""But-" you contradicted./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""No buts. Go with Trisha." Ash said, looking at you. You stuck your tongue out at him./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You leaned on Trisha and made your way up the museum stairs. They had velvet carpet on the sides, and marble in the middle, where you walked. The stairs wrapped around each side of the museum, and were parallel. Behind the dinosaur exhibit were three doors: in the middle, to the basement, to an American Revolution era exhibit on one side, and a door on the other that led to a pioneering-era exhibit./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"At the top of the stairs on the east wing was an Egyptian exhibit, which led to the Civil War exhibit. You couldn't see the other./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You sat down after Trisha sealed the gates that served as a door. Eldridge was wandering around the exhibit, looking at artifacts. Man, that guy was weird./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Trisha sat next to you, folding her orange skirt over her knees and almost to her knee-high socks. She pushed up her black glasses, and began filling you in on what you had missed./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"After you passed out, Ash had already closed the portal. A policeman had yelled, seeing you faint, which alerted Ash. He carried you to Trisha, then got the key from the museum, and all three of you bunkered down in the museum until you woke up. Ever since you entered the museum, the deadites were strangely quiet. None of them had shown up./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"After about an hour of waiting and playing thumb war with Trisha, you heard a slam on the door. You looked and saw one of the deadites clawing at the gate. It hungrily yelled, looking at you and Trisha./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Trisha screamed, and Eldridge whipped around. He just watched it, not bothering to help either of you get away if it got in. If you weren't scared out of your mind, you would have-/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"BLAM. /emA gunshot went off. Trisha jumped to her feet. Ash had appeared behind the gate, kicking the deadite's corpse./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Trisha sighed with relief, pulling you up./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Any luck?" Trisha asked./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""No." Ash responded. "The gates are stuck, I have to get to the control room to unlock them. I just came to check up, and I'm glad I did."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Thanks," you said. "Those things are scarier up close."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Ash looked at you weirdly, then walked back off to do… whatever./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 1px; color: #444444;"You didn't know what you felt about him, but it was… a warm feeling./p 


	4. Chapter 4

p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You've never been so bored before, nor so worried out of your mind./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Ash had been gone for a couple hours. Once in a while, you'd hear a distant gunshot, or a barrage of them, confirming that your hero was still alive./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Trisha had been wandering around, looking at exhibits. Eldridge was reading through the information booklet near the back of the room. In the back of the room were glass cases, that held the Union uniforms from the Civil War. You'd heard it time and time again when you moved here; Dearborn was once the sight of a Confederate-Union battle, where casualties were stacked as high as you could get./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You had also been wandering around, looking at the exhibits. Near the back was a large crack in the beige wall. You swore you could see light glowing from it…/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"An explosion pulled you out of your thoughts. It seemed to be below you, one or two levels. Then the gate to the exhibit opened./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You backed away, hiding behind one of the cases, just in case a deadite came. Trisha hid behind the pile of boxes next to you, and Eldridge disappeared./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Then came a soft snarling, footsteps padding towards the room. You glanced at Trisha, knowing what was coming. In the gateway appeared one of the demons, blood from various cuts on its body making a trail of blood. It crept closer, and closer, while you and Trisha held your breath. It was a foot away from your hiding spot./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"A shout came from the entrance, and a gunshot went off, causing your ears to ring. The creature was blasted backwards into a wall, and blood went everywhere, including on you. You peeked around the corner and saw Ash walking further into the room./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Guys? You here?" he called. You sighed in relief, and stood up./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""That was gross!" squealed Trisha. "It's all over me!"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Too bad, hon." Ash said. "That's what happens when you unleash an army of undead onto Dearborn."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Trisha huffed, crossing her arms. Eldridge appeared again, from behind another stack of boxes./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Hey, doc," Ash called, pulling out a weird key-like thing. "Any idea what this is?"/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""That appears to be a supernatural attuning device," Eldridge said. "It calls out the magic crystals that might be around, and in turn, it vibrates when close to one of them."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""That might be related to the strange light in the crack in the wall over there," you said, remembering the lights. "It seems to be glowing. Here, it's this way."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You led Ash to the crack, and he went over to examine it. "I could blast it." he said. "Stand back."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You jogged back over to Trisha and Eldridge, now standing by the gate. You watched as Ash lit something on fire, threw it, and began sprinting towards you guys. Whatever he threw exploded, and bits of the wall flew. Thankfully, the room was very large, so you were out of the way./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Ash went back to examine the wall, now more like a crater. You followed him while Trisha began talking to Eldridge about something./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"In the area where the explosion went off was a strange new wall. It was made of bricks, that glowed purple. Engraved in the bricks were four symbols; fire, lightning, water, and a green eye./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Well, at least em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"you/em know what you're doing," Ash said. "I want you to come with me this time, I could use your brains, (y/n)."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You felt your cheeks warm at his compliment. "T-thanks." you stuttered./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You followed Ash back out to the museum. There were four crystals to find; one in the Ice Age exhibit, one in the geology exhibit, one in the colonial exhibit, and one in the basement. Along the way, there was a surprising lack of deadites. their corpses littered the group, but none were still moving./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"You made your way back to the strange wall. Ash placed the crystals in the areas where their colors matched the carvings, and the stone began to move. It slid down from its position, and what opened was a long hallway. You looked at Ash, and he nodded./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Take this," he said, holstering his gun and pulling a shovel from the exhibit on your left. "Maybe you can help some more, (beautiful/handsome)."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""What's this?" Trisha asked, coming up behind you. "I guess the rumors about Nathaniel Payne were true."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""What rumors?" you asked./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Nathaniel Payne was known for collecting occult artifacts. This is why we are here, just in case he might have the Kandarian Summoning Stone. He went missing about twenty years ago, and some say he had built a temple under the museum, and left to continue working on it." Eldridge responded, beady eyes shifting to you./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""Summoning what?" you asked, confused. This was all a bit over your head; they must have discussed this while you were unconscious./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;""The Kandarian Summoning Stone is an artifact that relates to the Necronomicon. It gives one the power to control- er, destroy the demons summoned." Eldridge said./p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"Ash shrugged. "Whatever. Let's just see where this goes."/p  
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 1px; color: #444444;"All three of you followed Ash into the tunnel, connecting to Payne's temple./p 


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter is slightly cringey because the dialogue is taken from the game. Don't blame me, please.**

The hall led to a giant foyer. The entire room was made of marble, with the colors consisting of peaches and grays. Torches were on the walls, and the chandelier was lit up by candles.

Deadites streamed around you. Ash started shooting, you staying near Trisha and hitting any that got too close with your shovel. Moving on, the four of you entered the main chamber, where a looming statue was placed in the middle.

The statue looked like a giant man hunched over. The waistline was embedded in a giant boulder, almost as if the sculptor was working on the top half and decided to take a break.

"Hello?" Ash called, motioning for you, Trisha, and Eldridge to stay back. "I'm looking for a Nathaniel Payne? Nathaniel Payne?"

A pause.

"I-it's about the Kandarian Summoning Stone? …Look, I'll give it right back, okay?" Ash said, his voice echoing around the room.

Icy prickles traveled up your spine. Something here was bad- very bad.

"WHO DISTURBS MY REST?!" a demonic voice yelled, echoing throughout the room.

"Woah… Look, maybe this isn't a good time… I can come back!" Ash responded.

"No, this is the perfect time." The statue started moving. "FOR YOU TO DIE!"

A green glow emitted from the statue. It was Payne, now a deadite.

Ash jumped back in surprise, then revved his chainsaw. "Time to play. Come on, babe!" he said, pulling you into battle.

You managed to use your shovel as a shield by accident after Payne threw… something at you. Ash started shooting, but his bullets had no affect on the monster.

"Use the shovel! Bash whatever he throws back into that ugly face!" Ash shouted over Trisha squealing.

You panicked and swung the shovel wildly the what Payne was throwing (they appeared to be rocks on fire), until Ash pushed you out of the way. Payne was now throwing red bolts of energy, which narrowly missed Ash. You ran alongside Ash, frightened and confused.

Payne roared when Ash helped you slam one of the burning rocks back at him. He rubbed where it hit, growling angrily.

"Wretched mortals!" Payne screeched, looking as if he was having a fit. You would have laughed if you weren't scared on behalf of your life.

The pattern repeated for a while: Payne would throw rocks, when one would hit him, he'd throw the bolts of energy, and so on. Finally, the last rock hit him, and deadite-Payne roared in pain (Get it?). Ash stood in the way of you and the dying deadite, as he collapsed and melted.

"Well," Ash said once it was silent again, "that was interesting."

"Interesting?! I could have been killed! You're supposed to be the hero here!" you yelled, forcing Ash to face you.

"Hey, no sweat. You're alive. This'll be over once Eldridge gets working." Ash said, motioning for Eldridge to collect the stone at the base of Payne's… remains.

"Now, Trisha," Ash mused, walking to her as you were forced back, "what happens now?"

"I don't know, Ash." Trisha said, batting her eyelashes.

Ugh. Trisha did this to every boy she could find. Now that there was no more danger, she was free to flirt openly with Ash. It made your blood boil, for some reason.

"How about a date? You, me, and a nice restaurant in the city?" Ash said, smirking.

"I'm not sure. Some people say you're crazy. I-" she was cut off by a chanting come from Eldridge.

You turned around and saw another blue portal being opened. Eldridge was standing at its base, his back towards you and the two others.

"All things that once were, and will be…" Eldridge growled, "…dead by dawn!" He turned around and you saw his face pale and his eyes grow darker, if it was possible. The portal bent around him, almost like it was bending to his will. It absorbed him, and he was gone in a flash.

"Hold up on the lovin', girly." Ash said to Trisha. "Looks like not all of us are on the same side."

"Wait, you're not thinking about going in there?! Are you crazy?!" Trisha yelled, pulling on Ash's arm. You strangely wanted to bash her face in.

"Crazy is as crazy gets, babe." Ash said, pulling her close. "Gimme some sugar."

He kissed her.

You felt your world crashing around you- and not just literally. You understood, in that instant, you loved Ash, and he just kissed your best friend. You kicked yourself for ever liking him. You were no better than Trisha.

Ash left Trisha's side and vanished into the portal.

You turned to Trisha, your voice shaking. "I have to go with him."

"No!" she gasped, lurching forward to grab your arm.

But you were already gone.

* * *

 **i regret everything. Don't blame me; this is how the game is actually scripted.**


	6. Chapter 6

p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"span style="font-weight: bold;"This will be less… traumatic as I'm not using the game script./span/p  
hr style="border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: #e6e6e6; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-image: initial; box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; margin: 16px auto; width: 108px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: #ffffff;" /  
p style="margin: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You felt like every inch of your body was being stretched. You were about to scream in pain as it got worse, but it stopped. And then you were falling./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You landed on your behind, a groan escaping. Luckily, it didn't feel like you bruised your tail bone as you stood up./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Scanning your surroundings, you were in a graveyard. A dead tree stood in the center, its winding branches reaching for the darkening sky. Dead bodies were scattered around you. Looks as if Ash had just passed through./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You heard a groan behind you, and as you looked, you saw a deadite. Before you could react, a gunshot went off, and the demon was dead./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You nearly cried in relief, thinking it was Ash, when a slight British accent said, "Are you alright, (sir/miss)?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You turned around, again, and were greeted with an off-brand George Washington. Powdered wig, tailcoat, and bayonet. You didn't know where you had ended up,, but it appeared to be back in time./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""It's dangerous to be in these woods alone. Here, let me get you back to town." the man said, offering his arm./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You politely declined. "Actually, I'm looking for someone. He might have passed through here some time ago. His name is Ash Wiliams- black hair, nice jawline, V-line, and-" you stopped yourself./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""You mean Blacksmith Williams? Yes, he went off to town about an hour ago. You might catch him at his forge. Here, let me accompany you." the man said. "I'm Johnathan. Johnathan Jones."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Nice to meet you, Johnathan. I'm (y/n)." you responded, following him as he went off along the path./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"About ten minutes later, you saw torches burning. "Mr. Williams is just down two streets, and to the left. You'll see the shop sign. Be careful, (y/n). I have to get back to patrol. Good luck." Johnathan saluted, and retreated back into the woods. Looks like you're on your own, now./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Following his directions, you heard gunshots in the direction you were heading. You stopped near the gate. A sign hung above you, in the shape of an anvil and hammer. More gunshots went off behind the gate, and soon they stopped. You opened the gate./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""I told y'all, I-" the blacksmith stopped, seeing you. He narrowed his eyes, still having his gun pointed at you, leaning close. "You're not one of 'em. Thank God." he said, dropping his arms to his side./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"He looked a lot like Ash, just a bit shorter and not dressed like him. He wore a white shirt and black pants, with coal covering him. You noticed burns all over his hands and face./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Um, hi? I'm (y/n). I'm looking for someone named Ash-" you started./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Oh, the boomstick boy? Yeah, he just left. Should be back soon, I reckon." the blacksmith said, swaying slightly. He was slightly drunk, judging by the bottle he held in the hand that wasn't holding the gun. "Just call me Williams. Everyone does."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Okay," you said, still wary of the man. "do you know which way he went? I need to find him; it's kind of important."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""He'll be back soon, but if ya really want to get 'im, he went to the barnyard. Just follow the streets west, you'll see it." Williams answered. "But you'll never make it without a weapon. I could give ya something, it'll be enough. Wait here."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You did as he said, nervously looking around. Why did you decide to do this? It was stupid to follow Ash into the portal. You mentally slapped yourself for being so stupid./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Here ya go. A hand scythe. Sharp, so be careful. Those dead dumbasses won't stand a chance. Not many around after the patrol made rounds, but just in case." Williams said, surprising you slightly./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Thanks." you responded, taking the scythe. It was short, with a fitting handle and sharp edges. "If he gets back before I do, keep him here, okay?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Godspeed, (y/n). See ya soon." He retreated back into his forge./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You were alone again. You went back to the street, wondering where the hell to go. 'West' wasn't really helpful- you didn't have a compass./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Lost, (miss/sir)?" A man said, turning the corner. Why did everyone appear out of nowhere?/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Um, yeah. Where's the barnyard?" you asked./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"The man's eyes widened. "That's where all the demons are! Surely you aren't that stupid."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""I'm looking for someone. He went there. I emhave/em to find him." you said./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""It's that way." He pointed. "Please, don't be an idiot. Go to the church- it's where most of the survivors are."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You had started walking before he finished. The people here really freaked you out./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"The barnyard wasn't far from the town. It was quiet, oddly. You searched the barn, around it, and the farmhouse. Nothing but a few dead chickens and a cow that was still grazing, oblivious to the death around him./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You hurried back to the smithy. The yard was empty. A few bodies littered the ground, filled with holes and several slashes. Covering your nose, you knelt to examine the slashes further. They appeared to be made from a chainsaw- Ash had just left./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You got back up and nervously knocked on the smithy doors. No one answered. You tried to open the door, but it was locked. You banged on it again, and instantly regretted making so much noise./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Snarling came from behind you. Whipping around, one of the deadites had stumbled from the copse of trees near the gates. Its friends followed./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You were trapped. You quickly scanned the area for an exit, but to no prevail. You were going to die./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"A million thoughts swarmed your mind- regrets, accomplishments, wishes. At least you tried to help save the world. But now you'd become one of them./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"They were a yard away. You took a deep breath, and raised your hand scythe. You'd go down fighting./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"The first one to reach you received a slash to the face. You kicked it in the knees, so it fell over. The second one had a knife, so you brought down the scythe into his head, killing it./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"The rest came too quickly. You didn't have time to pull your weapon free, or grab the knife, or even get out your own./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Their hands grasped at you, giggles and growls alike coming from the creatures. You realized you had begun to cry./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""I'm sorry, Ash!" you whimpered as the demons scuffled around you, fighting to see who kills you first. The thoughts in your head increased, flashes of your friends and family filled your mind. You had let them down./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"A gunshot and a chainsaw whirring brought you back to reality. It was Ash- he was alive and here to save you./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"The demons fell, one by one, as you cowered against the smithy doors. Thankfully, they had only ripped a part of your shirt and left bruises and scratches./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Are you insane?!" Ash yelled, pulling you up. "You could have died! You should have stayed with Trisha!"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Tears overwhelmed you. You collapsed, sobbing into Ash's shirt. He pulled you to shelter beneath a tree, letting you cry and cry./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Well, you've gotten into this mess," he said once you had calmed down, "so we have to finish it. You're staying with me at all times."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You nodded weakly. Ash pulled you onto his back, letting you rest after crying. He was obviously shaken, but not as much as you./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"You still didn't tell him you loved him./p 


End file.
